


Save Our School!

by Caribous (Carib0u)



Series: Love Live! Virtual Reality Project [1]
Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: F/F, Romance, Science Fiction, Time Travel, Virtual Reality, Voice Acting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-16 11:13:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14163591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carib0u/pseuds/Caribous
Summary: Minimai Kotori and Sonoda Umi were no strangers to babysitting their upperclasswoman, student council president Kousaka Honoka. But can even they handle her latest scheme to save Otonokizaka - an Idol Research Club?





	1. Idol Research Club

* * *

"An Idol Research Club?" Umi snorted her milk through her nose. It probably wasn't fair to blame their friend, Student Council President Kousaka Honoka for that, but it was embarrassing and a little painful, nonetheless, so Umi glared at her.

"Umm ... what's that, Honoka-sempai?" Umi's best friend Minami Kotori ventured. As usual, lately, Honoka had brought more of her hand-painted "SAVE OUR SCHOOL! S.O.S.!" signs to the lunch area with her. You could be forgiven for wondering why Honoka even cared so much — so much that she was neglecting her student council presidential duties and her post-graduation future, which was imminent.

The answer to that came in two words: Ayase Eli. The Russian-born, half-Japanese beauty, and Honoka's president when she was vice-president, was Honoka's school idol. She had been almost as dedicated to Otonokizaka as Honoka was. Apparently, when Honoka had seen the notice at the end of last term that Otonokizaka was going to shutter its doors in 3 years, she had fainted in front of President Ayase, and been caught in her arms. Both of them had tears in their eyes. Honoka had been a good-time-having, somewhat lackadaisical vice president. Only her respect for the president motivated her to do anything in the student council on a typical day, but that girl leveraged her influence over Honoka skillfully, and somehow, the paperwork got done, clubs got funded, and things muddled on.

Many Ototonokizaka Academy students had assumed Honoka wouldn't even run for president, but the imminent (in her view) closing of the beloved school put a fire into her. She came up with several schemes in the last month to make the school more popular. To her chagrin, only the "petting zoo event" had gotten new visitors from the middle schools, and even that had depended on Kotori slipping a tranquilizer to the female alpaca, who would have bitten the little guests otherwise.

"It's a club!" Honoka exclaimed.

Umi just looked at her.

"Where you research idols!"

Umi waited.

"Umm, why are you researching idols, sempai?" Kotori ventured again.

Honoka looked at both of them expectantly, but clearly, they weren't getting it.

"Okay, hmmmm you both know about UTX, right? Our  ** _rival_**!" she pronounced with distaste.

Kotori fielded that one: "Well, yes, Honoka - they're very popular now. I guess an old school like ours can't really compete with .."

"Kotori, is your mom the principal or not?"

"Ye-yes ..." Kotori stammered.

"And would she want her daughter to give up without firing a shot at the first engagement?"

"umm ..."

"I mean, where would Japan be if we'd given up after the Port Arthur attack, I ask you?"

"Umm ... I think Japan attacked the Russians and defeated them, Honoka-sempai. So, ummm it was the Russians that didn't give up?"

Umi meanwhile was looking at Honoka, astounded.

"This is a first, Honoka. I think this is the first time you've gotten a complex historical fact _almost_ right. You might not only graduate, but actually get into college at this rate."

Honoka waved away their quibbling. Kotori was muttering something like "... and the Russians eventually lost the war, anyway ..."

"Anyway, UTX!" she began. "I was there and they have a big marquee sign for their school idols, A-RISE! And there was a little girl there, and ..."

"Hold on," Umi interrupted. "I thought A-RISE was gone when their last member, Yuuki Anju, graduated. Why are they still advertising that? Or is that your point, that they're clinging to the past, and hence, vulnerable?"

Actually, Umi thought that might be reasonable. In addition to archery club, where she imagined herself riding at the head of a horde of mounted archers, conquering Asia, she'd studied a couple of martial arts, and looking for signs of weakness in an enemy was standard fare there.

"No, Umi, that's the funny part," Honoka continued. "They're keeping it, and Anjuu is doing a project for credit at Touhou Gakuen to run it."

"Well, that is interesting, sempai," Kotori said, nodding.

"Are the other students she's replacing the lost members with as good as the originals?" Umi wondered.

"That's the funny part ... " at Umi's _look_ , she corrected herself: "the other funny part. They're using one middle school girl and one primary school girl, instead. There aren't any actual UTX students."

"What!!!" Umi exclaimed. "How did they get away with _that_?"

"It is kind of strange, don't you think, sempai?" Kotori added.

But Honoka was already shaking her head vigorously.

"No, see, that's the genius of the whole thing. We want a future where the younger generation **_wants_** to go to Otonokizaka, right? So does UTX. I mean, want them to want to go to UTX - you know what I mean. So, anyway, they get help from the graduate, so she'll be sure to come to the reunions and maybe contribute money some day. And they get girls in the grade schools and middle schools excited about being part of the action!"

Kotori and Umi were used to smothering Honoka's fires with a wet blanket, though they wouldn't have put it that way. But this time, she seemed to be on to something.

"Honoka, what's the point, though. Is your goal to do something similar here?" Umi asked, adding, "I do see what you mean about that being a smarter idea on their part than it looks at first glance, though."

Now Honoka was nodding. "Yes! We have everything we need, too!"

Kotori and Honoka looked at each other. "We do?" Kotori asked, timorously.

"How in heck does a small old school like us have the resources for something like that like a big modern school like UTX has?" Umi demanded.

"We have a graduate at Touhou Gakuen who loves Otonokizaka, needs a project for her major, and has a little sister at Torimachi Elementary School!"

"Hmmm," Umi mused. "Well, it's true Eli has always indulged you, Honoka. And if she can get credit for doing so, she probably will help. That doesn't guarantee Arisa will be interested in this nutty scheme of yours, though."

But Honoka smirked. "Leave that to Yukiho!" she said.

"Honoka-sempai, I thought last term Eli said Yukiho told Arisa someday she wanted to go to UTX, though. Arisa was sad because she wants to go to Otonokizaka." 

"Well, then," said Honoka, unperturbed, "Leave Yukiho to Arisa," adding, "And Himeko-chan says she can't do performing, but she'll join the club so we get enough members, and maybe one or two of her friends, and she'll help with our concerts!"

But then, Honoka remembered what she'd started talking about.

"Anyway! Anyway, there was a little girl there. She was all babbling about how awesome A-RISE was and she wished she could be in it, and make all her fans smile, and so on. She got mad at me because I assumed she was the same age as the little girl, Erena and told her in a few years she might be like the middle girl. It turned out she was only a year younger than the middle girl, Tsubasa. But I swear this girl does NOT look like a middle schooler. Anyway, she tried to stamp on my foot, but I dodged her. You know how good I am at Dance Dance Revolution, right? I think that and my ace dodging skills are a good omen for my future as an idol!"

Umi and Kotori looked at each other again. Honoka was getting to the "what do we say?" point now.

"So, that little girl didn't get to be part of A-RISE, right?" Honoka looked at her two underclassmen for confirmation, then assumed she had it when they didn't deny it. "Anyway, where can she go to have a chance? I think we should have at least nine idols in OUR group. One from college, three from high school, and the rest from middle school and elementary school. So the answer is, her chance is at ... ΟΤΟΝΟΚΙΖΑΚΑ! And that little girl called me an 'idol baka' and said I needed to do ten years of research on idols to even rate. So I decided I would research idols! Plus you can't get a performing club approved, anyway."

With that, she produced two club signup forms. Umi with a sigh, and Kotori with a tentaive smile, signed them. Honoka immediately dashed off towards the Student Council. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Questions:**  
>  1\. Why is Honoka a year ahead of Kotori and Umi?  
> 2\. Where the heck is everybody else?  
> 3\. What are Touhou Gakuen and Torimachi based on?  
> 4\. Why are Eli and Arisa there?


	2. Rivals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We (and Honoka) check in on Eli and her happy school life. As a bonus, we get to meet Anju and Eli's advisors.

"Not again," thought Alice Margarette, gritting her teeth. "Not _that_ again."

But so it was. Her favorite advisee, though not on days like today, was complaining about fellow freshman Yuuki Anju. Again. She supposed she could see why the two prettiest, most driven, most talented girls at Touhou Gakuen would butt heads, but ... 

"But they'd be so _cute_ together." It really was a pity. Her girlfriend, Kosame Marisa, agreed with her. They'd paired the two for a performance already. It had seemingly backfired. The two freshman, who hadn't hit it off on meeting each other, seemed even more antagonistic now. And what had Anju done this time?

Apparently, she'd put up an authentic-looking, but fake, poster saying the first-quarter dance exhibition for noon was cancelled. Ostensibly, that was to drive attendance away to Anju's own weekly noon concert, but in reality, it was probably mostly aimed at Eli. Alice moved to defuse the situation. She held up her hand to Eli. She dialed Marisa's number, and immediately laid down the law. Fortunately, Anju had taken a dance appreciation class this term, to fulfill a requirement for her program. She had probably expected an easy class and grade, since her new self-initiated project was going to take her away from college and back to her high school a lot, and she needed to maintain her grades to be allowed to continue in it. So, Alice started with that.

"Hey Marisa, good news. Your little protege gets extra practice time this afternoon. She might as well not bother showing up, because either way she gets a failing grade for the day. Oh? I see. Then tell me, can someone be good at dance _appreciation_ if they deliberately sabotage a dance presentation that everyone's been working very hard on, just so a few more people will see their weekly mini-concert? Yeah, me neither. If I did nothing, I think the kids in my class that are there because they want to be would give Anju some good, hard lessons in how to bully other students, after class  .. If that's how you think it should go  ... Gotcha. Okay, and another thing. Tell her we won't want her as part of the music for the mid term dance and music production. I know she thinks we can't do without her, but there are plenty of other composers who've been aching for a chance to show what they can do, and I am sure they are grateful to Anju for giving them the opportunity. That's really all I have right now. I gotta deal with my girl, you please deal with yours? Right, have fun."

Eli looked a little less infuriated, but Alice realized she was still fuming over the irrationality and unfairness of it all. She'd had to frantically phone dance students with the news that the exhibition was still on, and have them tell their friends and family. They'd been 15 minutes late getting started, not everyone hit their marks, and there were some empty seats. But all that had taken Eli out of herself and given her a new determination. She'd managed somehow to calm down and dance particularly beautifully, and the teachers and students and others who watched had all been impressed. Alice had had to be away at noon — she still had too many irons in the fire, but she'd gotten another teacher to video it, and she planned to watch it that evening. She'd just gotten back to see Eli standing in front of her office with a piece of torn, crumpled paper in her hand and angry tears in her eyes.

Eli never really felt like she got justice or even understanding in these situations. Alice had decided at the outset to tell her the truth: yes, Anju was usually at fault, and yes, her behavior was terrible. But it was also true that Anju was even more popular than Eli, and there was a reason: people felt that Eli was a strict, fun-hating hall monitor type, and that Anju was fun, loose and frivolous. So what Alice wanted Eli to do was look beyond the immediate situation and learn to loosen up. "Performing is more than precision and technique, Eli. That's what the people who decided you shouldn't dance in the upper ranks, and shouldn't bother relocating, were saying. The difference is, they didn't care about you, Eli, and I do."

Eli hated being reminded of that time.

* * *

 

_She'd outdone literally everyone else at the audition. She'd done technical moves few girls her age could achieve. When the names of the principals and second principals were read, she felt a little crestfallen. Maybe she had been a little stiff in her pair dancing. Sometimes it was hard to relate to the other dancers. On principle, she'd avoided socializing. She despised girls who tried to get by on charm. She would be very unhappy telling her grandmother she'd only made soloist. They'd have to seriously discuss when and even if she'd relocate to study more, given the stipend for a soloist wasn't ... In the back of her mind was the thought that she hadn't heard her name. With a heart sunken into the floor, she realized the soloists had been named, and now the coryphées were being named. Just as she had that thought, she finally heard her name. There was no way she could join the company's training program with its training hierarchy as a coryphée — she, the best dancer there, had failed, somehow._

_She looked around, not really ashamed of the tears filling her eyes. She glared right into the eyes of the main judge. He beckoned her over, and she stalked over to where he was. She had nothing to lose now by showing her anger and confusion. "You are a strong dancer, technically, Eli Ayase, but we can't use you. You don't dance well with others. Sometimes you are all smiles, other times you look like you'—re at the dentist. When someone tries to adjust you, you flinch like you're being molested. Your grandmother has given you a good start, and you've trained yourself well — but we think you won't allow us to break down that training and train you the way we want to, unlike the ones we chose. We don't like high-strung types that are primadonnas before they're prima donnas. A girl like you should go into some other form of dance, I think. Joining a settled classical ballet program even as a trainee? It's not for you. I am sorry."_

_Eli thought he was the stupidest bastard she'd ever encountered. He wanted cookies from a cutter, not stars. She twirled around and stalked away, before she could start cursing him, his family, and his stupid ballet company. It was, unfortunately the only one in that region of Russia that gathered trainees — the companies had divided up the territory unless there was a breakout star they all heard of, when they would compete to offer that individual a berth. Whether she liked it or not, her potential ballet career was in tatters, and she wasn't even out of middle school! Her mother had raised the idea of moving the family to her hometown in Japan. They hadn't discussed it much due to Eli's ballet training, but now she would say, "Please, let's go."_

* * *

 Yuuki Anju had had a sinking feeling when she saw Ayase Eli arrive at school her first day. She obviously wasn't going to be the prettiest girl at TouGaku any more. But she had resolved to get along with her. After all, if two beautiful girls spent a lot of time together, they ended up with more than twice the attention they'd get solo. But she'd quickly realized - Ayase didn't respect her at all. She had no use for pop music, and thought the costumes were silly and demeaning. So she, a ballet FAILURE, looked down on Anju, an idol SUCCESS. And that was not something Anju was going to ignore. Having come in peace, she decided it was more fun and satisfying to go to war.

That said, her adviser, Kosame Marisa, wasn't happy with her. She told her, first, that she was endangering her grades, and endangering her project, in consequence. And she wasn't doing herself any favors making the dance students hate her. "You need to leave her alone, Anju. We thought you two would perform well together — you complement each other a lot. We were wrong about that, but you're just being self-destructive now. I am putting a restraining order on you. If you don't leave her alone, you'll have a disciplinary hearing. Is it worth it all, just to make an honest, hardworking, very naive girl cry? There are better ways to do that that don't burn your education down around you, you know.  And they're way more fun."

"Some people, if they refuse to respect you, you have to make them fear you. She's a snob. And did you make professor Alice Margarette cry?"

"From here, it looks like you made the dance students, who used to like you, hate you. And I don't see even Ayase fearing you, so much as wanting to strangle you. She's physically much stronger than you, if you want to go down that road. I thought your way was to use your wits. And as for your question — yeah, plenty of times." Marisa smirked in reminiscence. 

* * *

_"Girls .. can't be in love with girls, can they??" Alice asked, looking up with reddened eyes and a tear-streaked face._

_"Who knows?" Marisa answered. She looked concerned, but when Alice hid her face in her hands again, she smirked. Landing this fish had been an epic battle that even the writer Hemingway would have respected!_

_When Alice Margarette had arrived in Japan from her small town in eastern Belgium she came as a prodigy and a genius. Her Japanese was quite good. Learning was what Alice did best. She had won prizes in sculpture, painting, music, poetry, dance and theater, and entered a secondary school for the arts in Brussels two years earlier than usual. A pair of teachers on holiday had discovered a shelf of deeply artistic dolls for sale at an inn they stopped at in the German-speaking part of Belgium. They were told that the innkeeper's daughter made them. Later, they encountered her, as the evening's entertainment was her playing stirring folk melodies on her violin. Asking her mother about the girl, she discovered she was the pride of their small town, involved in local dances and theater, entering poetry and sculpture and painting contests, and even helping her father with architectural designs around the inn. One of the designs she helped make won a prize after a photograph was sent in to a magazine contest in Brussels._

_Impressed, the teachers arranged for her to board in Brussels and secured a full scholarship. At the school, she was a standout compared to girls two to six years older than her. Because she was good at all of the seven classical arts (they had to pry her architectural feats at home out of her), she was nicknamed "The seven-colored magician." and the epithet followed her to Japan when she enrolled at Touhou Gakuen. One of her acquaintances from school (she'd been far too busy to make any friends) had been accepted earlier at TouGaku. She told the other students about Alice, and the blonde foreign girl became a minor celebrity._

_This didn't sit well with the school's already-resident prodigy, a Bohemian type who always dressed in black and white garb, reminiscent of gal fashion. She even wore loose socks because she'd heard high school gals were wearing them now. She decided the humorless, tightly wound girl - she couldn't be more than sixteen - was a rival to be reckoned with. She'd heard she was beautiful, to add insult to injury, but she wasn't ready for the sight of Alice's face turned towards her just as a ray of light came through the window after a cloud had moved aside. Wow. Marisa tried to tell herself it was just envy._

* * *

Nothing made Eli madder than being told to "loosen up" when there was injustice and illogic all around. But her adviser was right: she did care about Eli. So Eli had to try to listen. "Loosen up!" she said to herself. "What does that even mean!? Get drunk? That's what it means back in Russia. I don't have time to be an alcoholic like Uncle Vadya." Nonetheless. "Loose, loose, so loose. I am loosened up. I don't care anymore. See how much I don't care? Eat kittens, break all the windows in the conservatory, no problem!" Actually, she did feel a bit calmer, more relaxed. Maybe it was working. And -- a pleasant surprise -- her former schoolmate Kousaka Honoka had come to visit! Of course, since it was during the school week, she might have a question about something in the student council. If so, this would be the first time Honoka had done that, so Eli was inclined to help.

"Hi, Honoka!," she said, waving. Honoka dashed over and hugged her. It had taken her most of their year together in the student council to get used to that about Honoka, but by now it was more pleasant than uncomfortable.

"Eli!" Honoka exclaimed. "Guess what! I figured out how to save our school!"

Eli was puzzled. "You did?" She had beaten her head against that wall alongside Honoka, during the last month of the school year. Principal Minami had been very clear that the situation was unlikely to be reversed.

"Yeah, and Eli can help!" That was even more puzzling.

"I can? From here?" Eli asked.

"Yep! And I know it'll be popular because .. where is Non-tan ... anyway, I will go find her, but THAT"S the answer," Honoka said, pointing at a poster for Anju's A-RISE project. Eli immediately broke out in a cold sweat. Not paying attention, Honoka ran over to what looked like a middle-school girl with purple hair, looking at the trophies behind the glass near the dance studio. She led her back to Eli. "This is Nozomi! She's really smart and mature for her age. She likes the idea a lot. She says she has two kouhais that will really like it, too."

"Greetings, I am Toujou Nozomi," the girl said. She was certainly mature in one way: Honoka hadn't noticed, but her chest was bigger than Honoka's already - about as big as Eli herself. "And yes, Nico and Hanayo would be over the moon over this. Thank you for helping Miss Kousaka do this, Miss Ayase."

"Just what am I supposed to ..." Eli realized her worst fears had been realized. Now she had to disappoint two innocents. It was a pity Honoka's critical thinking didn't match her enthusiasm. "Oh!" she said. Honoka was still smiling happily.

"Listen, Toujou-san. Umm. Honoka .. this won't work."

Honoka looked stricken and Nozomi looked both of them over with a confused, somewhat wary expression on her face. 

"Honoka, you need to worry about your future, not Otonokizaka's. You've done so much already, I was very proud of you, but don't let your heart get broken over it. And this — what, school idols? No, I think you can't do that at all. It's utterly frivolous. I .. I won't allow it."

Honoka was too stunned to react, but Nozomi started to walk away. She paused, turned back a little, and said over her shoulder, to Eli, "This isn't over."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Questions:**
> 
> 1\. Where did Alice Margarette and Marisa Kosume come from?  
> 2\. Why are Eli and Anju already in college?  
> 3\. Why is Nozomi in middle-school? Why do they call her 'Non-tan?'  
> 4\. Why are Nico and Hanayo even younger than Nozomi?  
> 5\. Why are they already close friends?  
> 6\. Where are Rin and Maki?  
> 7\. Why did Eli say 'No School Idols?'  
> 8\. Why is she Honoka's mentor in the Student Council?
> 
> **Answers to last week's questions:**
> 
> 1.それは彼らの声優の年齢によるものです。  
> 2.ほとんどの人はまだ高校にいません。  
> 3.東放学園と麴町  
> 4.＃1と同じ理由


	3. Discussion Time at Joshigakuin

"This isn't over." Well. Nozomi could say that all day, but wasn't it? Over? What an awful day it had turned out to be. Nozomi had simply skipped all her morning classes and taken the train over to TouGaku to help Honoka sell her idea to Ayase, and it hadn't done a bit of good. So now, she was in a little trouble, and for nothing. Worse, she'd mentioned in passing to Nico and Hanayo that her — well, someone you gave your contact info to at an alpaca-petting probably didn't qualify as a full friend — semi-friend Honoka, an HS senior, had had a great idea that might be fun for Nico and Hanayo, and now she had to tell the pair that it was all pointless.

Worse, it made her doubt herself. Her tarocchi readings had been, she thought, clear. Both the Honoka plan and the woman, Ayase Eli, were auspicious. She refused to believe she was just suffering from chuunibyo a year late. Nozomi also firmly believed in the Buddhist and Hindu concept of karma. Was this hers, for accusing her kouhai Nico of having chuuni? The girl, already perfectly cute, had made herself obsessive and grumpy, then "created" a persona of a cute, smiling, young-looking girl. What made Nozomi teasing her about it worse, she found out from her three siblings, was that her deceased father had been involved in her "Nico-nico-nii" routine. In any event, it never hurt to keep your karma pure. She resolved to avoid teasing Nico in the future, however tempting it might be. Or, at least, about things that would hurt her.

Nico was, she had to admit, a fascinating, larger-than-life personality. Their mother had made a good living as a voice actress, even voicing the world-famous main character in the groundbreaking animation, " _Fleet Girl Luna_ ," which was originally called " _Pretty Guardian Fleet-girl Luna_ " but was soon changed to what everyone in the audience ended up calling it. She had halfway retired when she married a JRE engineer, but when she found out she was having quintuplets, and they'd have to move to a bigger house, she decided to take on more roles after she recovered from the birth. Much to her dismay, her first year she was too weak, and too busy with four infants, to take on any extra work, and even the occasional jobs she'd had before were more strenuous now. Nozomi got all of that from bits and pieces from Nico; the other three children had been kept out of the loop, with the family's troubles shared between Nico and her mother.

At any rate, according to Nico, when her father left the JRE/E to work for a company that would let him be home more, they apparently lost his substantial JRE-East pension, and her mother worried about that, but he was a great help at home, so they both forgot about it. He got to spend plenty of quality time with the quintuplets, including the "ambitious" one, Nico. He encouraged her in her goal of becoming a beloved entertainer one day, like her mother, even though she was only in first grade. Then, he died.

It turned out, unlike most Japanese families, the Yazawas had bought their home with a big mortgage. They were both earning money, and hadn't had the luxury of worrying about it at the time. So Nico's mom had to move them quickly into a small apartment she could afford on her own. She got a small pension from her husband's second company, and some money from the federal government, but she also had to take on more roles. To tide them over when roles were scarce, she took a part-time day job. The children never knew when she would be home. Nico had stepped up to the plate.

All four children picked up after themselves and did the dishes without complaining, and kept their rooms neat, and so on. But Nico demanded her mother teach her to cook. And continue teaching her whenever she was home. Nico also learned how to do the laundry safely, and supervise things like airing out the futons. Gradually, she became a sort of older sister to her fellow quintuplets. 

None of the Yazawa children lacked new clothes, and they got a reasonable amount of toys, except Nico. She asked, politely, to get things like dancing shoes and lessons, music CDs, and so on, instead of playthings, which really didn't interest her. Nozomi wondered if the "Nico-nii" personality was really created either randomly or strategically: from her perspective, it looked a _lot_ like recapturing her lost childhood. The only thing left of that was her appearance — which all four shared, even Cotarou - and the fact that she could really be a _brat_.

And there she was.

Of course, Hanayo was alongside of Nico. Nozomi had been bothered at first by the way Nico tended to dominate the extremely shy girl, but she decided it was just a spill-over from her habits at home. Thinking of people that usually appeared in pairs, she looked over at the table she normally sat at. Sure enough, Mika and Fumiko were already sitting together. It was their older friend, Hideko, who'd told them about going to Otonokizaka, which is where they'd met Hideko's friend Honoka. Nozomi headed to the table at the same time as Nico and Hanayo. As she sat down, she noticed Maki and Tsubasa were there, as well as Nico's three siblings.

Maki and Nozomi had a tendency to bicker. Nozomi had done a card reading for her once, and told her she was confused and conflicted between what she wanted to do and what was expected of her. Maki had gotten upset and said it was all nonsense, anyway. It was a good thing she probably didn't know about the card element of Nozomi's debacle today.

Kira Tsubasa was, of course, the celebrity of Joshigakuin right now. Nico looked up to her, somewhat grudgingly, but genuinely. Her siblings were too savvy in their sister's ways to make too big a fuss over Tsubasa, but they did ask her about idol things, hoping to gain info they could pass on to Nico. Tsubasa surprised Nozomi the second she sat down.

"Didn't go well, did it, Non-tan?"

Nozomi just stared at her.

"Coulda told you so, saved you the train fare and the trouble over skipping. But if you're going into the idol world, you gotta be brave, so I approve."

Nozomi found herself stuttering, which was rare. "Wha … why ... why do you say that, Tsubasa?"

"Cause I know Anju. And Anju absolutely _hates_ Eli. And from what she says, the feeling  is completely mutual."

Okay, this was new information.

"Apparently, they have some sort of truce going, their advisors insisted." Tsubasa _loved_ gossip, so this was probably her having the time of her life. "So, you two were asking Eli to blatantly imitate Anju's idea, jump through the same hoops Anju did, with the same people, and become her direct rival, at the same time, and have the people at school start saying, 'you two should work together" again. Plus, according to Anju, Eli doesn't even like school idols. Thinks they're stupid. That's what caused the big fight to begin with."

"Well … Honoka says she'll talk to her little sister and Eli's little sister, they come over a lot."

"Good luck with that. It won't benefit them for literally years, Yukiho wants to go to UTX - can't blame her for being smart, can you - Arisa wants to go wherever Yukiho goes, and her big sister she idolizes has said it's a bad idea."

Put that way, it really seemed hopeless. Even Nico hadn't said a word, so far, and normally she'd be the first person butting in to say "never give up!"

But at that, instead of butting in, Nico timidly raised her hand. The other people at the table, even her siblings, all laughed. It wasn't very "Nico" behavior, even if it was what was expected of a normal kouhai. But Nozomi and Tsubasa both nodded. 

"I've never met this Honoka, I had better things to do than go look at llamas at a girl's school." She didn't flinch when Hanayo, who had gone, said "alpacas" in a quiet voice. "But it seems like she doesn't care about following the rules, just wants to fix things, right? And she's the student president?"

Mika and Fumiko, the Honoka experts, both nodded. 

"Then, I say we just do it. Like Tsubasa-sempai says, if you're going to do this, you need to be brave. We really need to work hard at it, too. We need to have music to show Arisa, and we need to have proof for Eli that we're doing this seriously. Anju is the oldest, so yeah, she leads A-RISE. Heck, she created it. But I say Honoka leads ... whatever we end up calling it. Then we lobby Eli again. Get her fired up about competing with Anju."

"Well," Tsubasa said. "I mean, I hope you don't get her hopes up. The odds against something you throw together competing with us — not good."

Back in her true form, Nico interrupted. "Well, yourself — if we get Ayase on board, we'll have a leg up on the dancing. Can you deny that?"

Even Tsubasa couldn't. According to Anju, who wouldn't have praised Eli gratuitously, her dancing ability, and her ability to teach and inspire her fellow dancing students as she went along, were pretty much legendary.

"Fine, Nico-chan," Tsubasa said, acknowledging a point. "But who's going to compose your songs? I mean, you're not bad, I've heard you write catchy songs, but you're no Anju. And I haven't heard anything about that Honoka girl being a whiz at it."

To Tsubasa's surprise, Nico was still smiling, even smirking.

"That's where Nico's secret weapon comes in, sempai!" She pointed over at Maki, who was refusing to meet anyone's eyes. "Nico's Maki-chan is the best composer in the universe!"

It was true, everyone knew, that Nico haunted the music room whenever Maki was playing piano, completely entranced. And it was true that Maki's musicianship was at a completely adult level already. But to hear her call her "Nico's Maki-chan" was pretty funny. And they all anticipated a blow-up from Maki over it.

It came immediately, but it wasn't in the form anyone had imagined.

"Nico-chan. A. Shut up. Now."

Nico promptly did. Maki had always had that effect on Nico - being able to control her where even Nozomi's guile and understanding would fail.

"B. You are the kouhai, and I am the sempai. You don't bring up things and say I'll do them. Not ever. Clearly, you've forgotten your place, and clearly, I will have to re-train you until you remember it."

At this, Maki sighed, for some reason.

"C. You are also severely straining our new and fragile girlfriend relationship. In the future, if you do this sort of thing without consulting me, I will let you fall on your ass. I will even join in in laughing at you. But this time, it's seemingly for a good cause. So I'll help."

Maki actually preferred eating lunch in silence, but liked being next to people. It was one of the reasons she and Hanayo were rather close. This lunch time, she got her wish. No one had anything to say until the bell rang a few minutes later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Questions:**
> 
> 1\. Wait, Nico's mom is a celebrity? Why are they so poor, then?  
> \-- Yeah, it's explained in the story, but is it plausible?  
> 2\. Wait, Nico is a quintuplet? Since when?  
> 2a. And she's younger than Maki?  
> 2b. And they're dating?  
> 2c. And Maki coldly puts Nico in her place, and she takes it and likes it?  
> 3\. We've accounted for Maki; where the heck is Rin?  
> 4\. Why is Tsubasa at the same school as Nico, Maki, Hanayo, Nozomi, Mika, Fumiko and all three Yazawa siblings?  
> 5\. Is this story based more on the anime or the manga/PV/SIF/diary LNs?  
> 6\. Two of "those three girls" are there, why is Hideko already in high school?  
> 7\. What the heck is _Pretty Guardian Fleet-girl Luna_ , anyway?
> 
>  
> 
> **Answers to last week's questions**
> 
>  
> 
> 1.彼らはアリスとマリサの姓のわずかな名前の変更です。  
> 2.彼らの声優の年齢のために  
> 3.彼女の声優の時代のために。 それはその名前の一般的な愛情のあるバージョンだからです。  
> 4.声優の年齢  
> 5\. 彼らは同じ学校で同じ年にいる。 彼らはアイドルに同じ関心を共有します。  
> 6.まきはちょうど離れていますが、リンはまだ小学校にいます。  
> 7.それはエリがすべての可能な宇宙で言うことです。  
> 8.それは繰り返しパターンです。


	4. A-RISE!

When she came bustling in, Tsubasa clearly had news. She wasn't alone — what looked like a half dozen of her classmates had come along. She thought she recognized a couple of faces from photos Tsubasa had shown her. One of two identical-looking girls was probably Nico, who was part of some project Eli's kouhai was trying to pull together. Their youngest member, Toudou Erena, had messaged that she was bringing three friends from Torimachi with her, so this practice, which was meant to be a fun, informal one, would have a fair-sized audience of nine girls.

Anju could have wished she'd had a little more time, because she'd been contemplating something serious. Her advisor had told her once about when she first caught sight of Professor Margarette coming through the door just as the sunlight hit her face. That was when, Professor Kosame told her, she realized she was going to get that girl for herself. Anju realized both of them saw a lot of themselves in Anju and Eli in the current generation. But they were wrong. Anju had had that exact same moment — feeling head over heels in love at first sight, herself. It had happened when they first convened the new A-RISE to meet each other, and, alas, the girl in question was ten years old.

Perhaps even worse, the only person that knew about it was Erena, that same girl in question. Actually, in her thoughts, Anju tried to think of her as "Toudou-san". To create some distance. But in practicing and performing that would have been a strange way for her to address her, so "Erena" it had been. Erena had stayed back that first day while Anju was straightening up and packing her clothes. "Don't be so upset, Anju. I think _you're_ beautiful, too." And lately, she'd been especially flirty. But that thought could wait.

Some of Tsubasa's news was as expected. Honoka and a Joshigakuin girl had been unsuccessful in persuading Eli to form an idol unit to help Otonokizaka Academy. Anju would have been shocked at any other result. Apparently, the big school item for Tsubasa was that her classmate, Maki, and her kouhai, Nico, were dating. Had even announced the fact, which was bold for middle school girls. Nico was the one who looked up to Tsubasa but considered her a rival. She'd have probably been in around Tsubasa's position. Tsubasa had described her as "pretty good," which might mean anything. 

"Which one is Nico, again?" Anju asked, looking at the two identical-looking dark-haired girls with red eyes. 

"Nico-nee didn't come," one said.

"She says rival idol groups shouldn't spy on each other," the other said.

Their brother introduced them: "I'm Cotarou, and that's Cocoro, and that's Cocoa," he said, pointing at each girl in turn. From the look of it, they were the Nico girl's little sisters and brother, and the two girls were twins. Anju didn't tease them about their sister's grandiose ideas — she was supposed to be on her best behavior, and they were probably elementary school students. She addressed one of them.

"Sorry, I didn't remember which one you were ..."

"I'm Cocoro," she replied. The other girl added, "When Nico-nee isn't around, Cocoro takes charge, she's kind of Nico-nee junior."

"Anyway, Cocoro, I thought Ayase turned you girls down flat. Why does your sister think she's in a rival idol group?"

"She and Honoka and Non-tan ... umm … Nozomi are just going to go on anyway and convince her later." Anju smiled. This promised to be loads of fun without her doing anything but being nice, didn't it?

"I haven't met this Honoka, is she all driven like Nico-chan?" Tsubasa asked.

"Mika and Fumiko are her friends, so ..." the one that had to be Cocoa said, pointing to two girls sitting together who hadn't said anything until now. One of them stood up. "Maybe all us visitors should introduce ourselves. You've met Cocoa, Cotarou and Cocoro, and I'm Mika." She sat down again.

"I'm Fumiko," said the girl next to her. A little ways from them a very shy-looking girl wasn't meeting anyone's eyes. "I'm ... Hanayo,"  she managed to say in a quiet, whispery voice. The three girls who had come in with Erena identified themselves as Rin, Yukiho and Arisa. Now that she saw Eli's little sister, it was clear she was going to be the same kind of striking beauty that Eli was. From the way Yukiho squeezed her hand when Anju looked her over, she was well aware of that. Arisa herself seemed very unself-conscious about holding Yukiho's hand and leaning into her a little. If she wasn't young-looking for her age, she couldn't be more than nine years old, so the two probably weren't classmates. Anju wondered how girls in different grades had gotten so close in elementary school.

Fumiko spoke up: "Yes we're her friends, well, Hideko mostly. But Tsubasa has talked with us about her already, and we have her sister right here ..."

"Ah ... m-me?" Yukiho squeaked. "Well, I don't know Nico, but I would say Onee-chan only gets like this when she has a cause to commit to. Like, before it was helping Eli, and now it's saving her school."

"Onee-chan is, indeed, always driven. It comes from our father, so there's really no way that will ever go away. She feels like she's fulfilling his last wishes." That was the one on the left, which was ... Cocoro, the "Nico-nee, Jr." Probably.

"And Non-tan hates to be wrong, so I guess that accounts for her. Who else is involved now, besides Maki-chan?" Tsubasa asked.

"Umm, it's just Nico and Maki and Nozomi right now at Joshigakuin, but they're going to meet up with Honoka, Umi and Kotori at Yukiho's house pretty soon. They said I would learn more coming here, today, but that's mostly that Nico knows how much I love to watch idols practice and perform. I will go over there, too, after a while," Hanayo said.

"So, you're part of this, too?" Anju asked. "Yes!" Hanayo said, self-assured, for once. "Nico-chan has been supporting me all along, giving me courage and making me step out and try things I was afraid of. This is my best chance, and I am going to take it. I really love Nico-chan ... um ... as a friend I guess I bettersaycuzitsnotlikeNicoMakioranythingnotthattheresanythingwrongwiththat" and then suddenly she stopped talking and hissed something angrily at the redhead Rin, who was sitting near her.

Only Yukiho and Arisa heard, "What the hell is wrong with you little girl stop staring at my tits for a second. Geez!" and Arisa laughed out loud. Yukiho had noticed Hanayo, who she didn't know, was fidgeting and looking uncomfortable for a while, and that must have been the reason. When Arisa entered Joshi, Yukiho planned to ask her to go steady, so on the general principle of supporting young love, she thought, "Go for it, Rin!" It really was true, though. Not only did Hanayo have an angelic face, but her breasts were intimidatingly large for a second year in middle school. When you looked at it that way, Rin and Hanayo were two years apart, like Arisa and Yukiho. Maybe pointing out to Rin that if she minded her manners for a year, she could ask Hanayo out for real, would help.

"So, are we luring you all to UTX with this little show?" Tsubasa asked, grinning.

Hanayo, loyal to Nico, and Mika and Fumiko, loyal to Honoka, all said "no." Yukiho and Arisa said when the time came, they just wanted to go to the same school, but it didn't matter now, so far in advance. "But we're going to help Onee-chan," Yukiho added. Rin hadn't learned anything, apparently, because she said she was going to go to Otonokizaka because "That's where Kayo-chin will be." So, not only was a grade-schooler nicknaming a middle-schooler, she was already claiming her. Hanayo gave her a dirty look and turned away.

The Yazawas, it turned out, were all going to UTX.

Tsubasa was puzzled, but Anju wasn't. "You forget, Tsubasa, a big difference. UTX is co-ed. Otonokizaka isn't. So Cotarou doesn't have a choice there, even if they saved Otonokizaka." 

"That's it," Cocoa said. "And we didn't want to be separated. Nico-nee has to do what she has to do, but we watch out for each other, usually. We don't want Cotarou all alone at a big school like UTX."

"Actually, it's probably good that Nico isn't coming with us. That girl needs to learn that she doesn't have to be our mother anymore. She needs to concentrate on her future," Cocoro added.

"But nonetheless, we will all help our nee-chan," Cotarou stated.

Meanwhile, Anju, taking it all in, felt a hand slip on top of hers. "A penny for your thoughts, team leader," Erena said, in English. She continued, in Japanese, "But I'll give you a hundred yen to start practice soon, so I can be home before my curfew."

Hanayo slipped out when they took their second break, praising them heavily. She went off to meet up with the "rival idol group." The ride for the elementary schoolers arrived just at the end of practice. They barely had time to applaud, and Erena simply threw her uniform and belongings into her bag. She'd clean up at home, anyway.

Tsubasa and Anju reviewed their practice and discussed plans for a while. With Anju very busy with classes, they tended to split the work fifty-fifty, and some of their work even got shifted to the grade-schooler, who had come through without complaining, so far. Anju hadn't felt capable of managing more than a couple of young girls, but she thought if Eli went along with Honoka's scheme, she might be better off, indeed, all of them would be better off, than her, Tsubasa and Erena. But the three had definitely gelled at least as well as the original A-RISE, so Anju had no real complaint about how things turned out.

She definitely planned with a clearer head when Toudou-san wasn't around.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Questions:**
> 
>  
> 
> 1\. Why does Anju call Erena 'Toudou-san?'  
> 2\. Is Anju heading for prison?  
> 3\. Is Erena evil?  
> 4\. What will everyone else think of Anju?  
> 5\. Shouldn't Anju think of the children here?  
> 6\. Or is that the problem?  
> 7\. @#%*$!, does that little Hoshizora girl have ANY manners at ALL?  
> 8\. Is she, a tomboy child, seriously macking on a middle-school girl?  
> 8a. How seriously?  
> 9\. Is Yukiho seriously already planning her future relationship with a _9-year-old?_  
>  10\. Is that Himawari-Sakurako cute or Happy Sugar Life creepy?  
> 11\. Why are Arisa and Eli nine years apart?  
> 12\. Isn't even Honoka and Yukiho's 6-year age difference a little surprising?  
> 13\. Or maybe not, compared to Eli and Arisa and the AnjuErena thing?  
> 14\. What is Joshigakuen based on?  
> 15\. Why are a 10-year-old, 14-year-old, and 18-year-old, none of them in high-school, in a high-school idol group together?  
> 16\. Does Anju just like the 'skip four' pattern?
> 
>  
> 
> **Answers to last week's questions**
> 
>  
> 
> 1.それは物語で説明されている  
> 1a. おそらくそうではありません。 ただ読書を続けてください。  
> 2\. 1人の声優が4つの部分すべてを演奏しているからです。  
> 2a. 彼らの声優の年齢のために。  
> 2b. 彼らの声優はこの関係を促進する。  
> 2c. 最も有名なニコマキの同人誌、大島智（大島智）は、そのように書いています。  
> 3.小学校で。  
> 4.彼らの声優の年齢のために。 なぜ彼女はそこにいけないのですか？  
> 5.ある意味では、それはアニメに完全に基づいていますが、主に他のものからの特徴付けです。  
> 6.彼らの声優の年齢のために。  
> 7.「セーラームーン」としてよく知られています。


	5. We’re the adults, here!

“ **Both of you, be reasonable!** ” Minami Noriko didn’t raise her voice, of course, but she felt like doing so.

She was addressing two of her women-friends who had met with her for a rare lunch away from the school (and from the hospital and from Yazawa's day job).

After all! She, not they, was the headmistress of Otonokizaka Girl's Academy. She, not they, had a daughter who was a student there, who would only have one class after her. Did they imagine she wanted her own school, with its rich history and heritage, to close? That she was just strolling around and gossiping like an oil seller when her school was in a crisis? And yet, that’s what their questions and suggestions implied. Not knowing her situation, they were yet full of “wisdom” for her. It wasn’t the kind of wisdom that brought more people into their slowly declining part of Tokyo, nor did it inspire bureaucrats to release more money to a school with fewer students.

It didn’t help that she was a bit bothered by both of them right now. When her husband started traveling away even more often, Noriko had reasoned that she, herself, would be very busy with the school, and thus being able to spend only some time together might not be so bad; now, faced with impending retirement in a year — she couldn’t bring herself to put out feelers for another position, but perhaps she should — she’d realized that being alone and unemployed wasn’t something she was looking forward to, especially when Kotori went away, either for university or to get married.

She also realized, alas, that the person she was most yearning to have accompany her was not, in fact, her spouse, but her Otonokizaka kouhai, and — though it had never been said publicly — girlfriend of two years in Noriko’s senior year and into her first year at university, long distance. That girl, the heiress to a hospital that ran in her mother’s family, had kept the name Nishikino from her mother, and now was a grown woman who had a doctor husband who had sacrificed his family’s name to hers, and a daughter who, yes, wanted to go to Otonokizaka but wouldn’t be able to, probably. If Yazawa was right, her most responsible little daughter wanted to follow little Maki there, even though her three siblings were all headed for UTX.

The former Sanseki Kotono was something of a “yuri fujoshi,” frankly, but she could indeed spot it quite well. And that was what made Noriko a little tense around her, not just around her kouhai, Nishikino Kikuko. Yazawa’s sharp eyes had already read her heart, she just knew it. At least she probably overwhelmingly approved, even though Noriko had been worried that the girl, five years younger than her, had seemed to have a crush on Kikuko when she came to visit Otonokizaka as a middle schooler.

When Kotono got married, it really had been a storybook romance, and her husband had been infinitely patient and supportive. From what she’d heard from others, she was glad Kotono hadn’t been in either of their years, nor ended up at Otonokizaka, but at a rival school that had closed now long ago. He must have been patient to put up with the bratty half-pint, who had run around annoying people with vocal exercises, including one she made up, “Ka-ki-ku-ke-Kotono!”, and boldly declaring to everyone and sundry that she would be the “#1 Seiyuu in the Universe!” For a while, after she landed the lead part in _Pretty Guardian Fleet-girl Luna_ (and to be fair to her, helped it become a monster hit even with some previously non-anime fans), it had almost looked like she’d succeed at that.

Fortunately for her swelled head — and everyone else’s peace of mind — while she’d had a solid career, which was still going strong (just this year, the lead role in _Kousaka Matsuda’s Random Gag Manga Time,_ a part in _Robber King Ching,_ four big roles in the very popular _Gun-Mecha Seed,_ including the narrator, and the sister/assistant of the hero in the also very popular _Twisted Coils of Reason),_ nothing as big as _Fleetgirl Luna_ had come up. That series had appeared and reappeared, frequently, though. If she hadn’t had quadruplets, of all the un-Japanese things to do, she’d have been well off, really. As it was, she couldn’t really work year ‘round or relocate for a special project, even for KansaiAnime in Kyoto, which liked hiring Yazawa but wouldn’t always do so for a long project recorded there. Much more important than all the above, though, when Kotono married it was clear she wasn’t after Kikuko, or any girl. It made his tragic death that much more tragic later, but at the time Kikuko, Noriko, and Kotono’s other friends (how had that happened, again? Oh, Kotono tagging along after Kikuko) had been overjoyed for them both. With Noriko also being relieved, because one less person was after Kikuko, who she missed terribly.

Then Kikuko crossed everything up for Noriko by marrying a doctor working at the hospital she was an intern at! Apparently, they’d met at Hachioji.

Noriko remembered that the stunningly beautiful girl had always kept her cards well hidden. More often than not, when Noriko had said flowery, romantic things, it would be met with Kikuko saying, “I don’t get it!” or blushing and twirling her hair in her fingers, looking away. Still, Noriko had always fantasized about reuniting with her, and it was a real blow and a wake-up call when she saw a wedding invitation from her. It was a dreadful cliche, but Noriko really had dropped it on the floor and leaned against the wall by the coat holder.

It was then that Noriko had finally said yes to the Minami guy who had been pestering her and even gotten her parents to arrange an o-miai with her. An older man, he had a promising career in business developing, so Noriko and any children at least wouldn’t lack for much. They only had one child before he became mostly an away-from-home husband, and at first, as she’d just been thinking, that wasn’t bad from Noriko’s point of view. Unlike Kotono and Kikuko, if she was being honest, she probably really wasn’t into men.

If she let Yazawa tease her without fighting it, she’d probably be her ally if Kikuko was temptable. Noriko wouldn’t mind a secretive relationship at all, actually. Wait, why was she strategizing to have Nishikino stray from her marriage again? She brought her thoughts back forcefully to Otonokizaka.

Kotono and even Kikuko had gotten wilder with their advice while Noriko was daydreaming. Yazawa winked at her and met her eyes. She knew, all right. Noriko decided, come what may, she’d not put up a fight. Let Yazawa have her fun. As she caught up with the conversation, she realized the Yazawa and Nishikino girls, as well as their friends and friends of Kotori’s at Otonokizaka, and even an alumna who had been Kotori’s mentor, were all working hard on schemes to save the school, most of which revolved around making school idols like UTX’s A-RISE. Really, UTX’s outreach project, there wasn’t a single UTX student in the group. Noriko made a quick decision.

To the surprise of the other two, she suddenly declared, “I’ll help!”

As they looked at her, she said, “Sometimes I’ll be subtle about it, but I’ll help as much as I can. Something you’re both so psyched about, that all those girls are working so hard on, should be supported, is all.”

She made another impulsive decision. She was going to at least test the waters with Kikuko. And since she had no idea at all how to do that, she’d have to enlist Yazawa’s help, not just wait and hope for it. Damn. Fortunately, Dr. Nishikino was summoned via her phone. She left money with Noriko, made her apologies, and dashed away.

Kotono was looking over the charge for lunch when Noriko suggested they get coffee and continue talking about “all of this,” even though it would make her a bit late getting back to school. Apparently, Kotono was free, or willing to be, as she agreed.

Then, suddenly, she grinned. “What amazes me, Noriko,” she said, “is that you still, to this day, watch Kikuko’s ass like it’s a fishing lure the entire way as she’s leaving, just like you did in high school.”

Noriko blushed and stayed silent.

“We can talk about Otonokizaka any time, but getting you and Kikuko back together we’ll have fewer opportunities to do, by far, am I right?” Kotono then answered her own question. “Of course I am. So, spill.”

“You’re right.” She might as well admit it. Kotono, with four children just now becoming teenagers, was pretty hard to lie to.

“Wow,” Kotono said. She sat back in her chair. “That was a hell of a lot easier than I thought it would be. So, you want my help, and you have it. So good, so far?”

Noriko nodded.

“Okay, one thing to know first: Nagaiyoshi died, and nothing I did was going to bring him back, or hurt him. So, after a certain period, around a year, I started seeing my fellow seiyuu, and because I really didn’t need more children, as much as I love the ones I have, I restricted myself to the girls. So I learned to sniff out which ones were open, approach them discreetly, and keep everything quiet. You have never read anything like that about me in the magazines, have you?”

Well, Noriko hadn’t. She only glanced at them in the bookstore quite rarely, just to see if she caught Kotono’s name, but it was still true. So she shook her head, no.

“She might end up hating you, you know.” That was unexpected. “And you — you may end up with a broken heart. Won’t be the first time with that girl. Are you ready for all of the above?”

Noriko nodded, which seemed to surprise Kotono.

“Okay, fine. You clearly realize that this Otonokizaka thing is your ‘in’ with Nishikino, so I don’t have to advise you there. And I am willing to take your cue whenever you want me to suddenly leave you two alone, if it comes to that. You better report to me what she says, so I can tell you what it all means.” Kotono had a sparkle in her eyes and seemed completely energized now.

Noriko blushed heavily at a sudden thought.

“Now what?” Kotono asked. “Spill.”

“No, it’s nothing,” Noriko said.

“Oh?”

“It really is, I mean, but here we are, supposedly planning how to save a cherished institution and it devolves to hunting Kikuko. It’s like I never left high school. And — well, we’re the adults, here.”

“To hell with that,” Kotono said. And then she grinned again, and grabbed Noriko, threw out a two finger peace salute and took a selfie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Questions**  
>  1\. Wait, who named these women?  
> 2\. And named them Noriko (okay), Kotono (kind of works with Kokoro, Kokoa and Kotarou) and ... **Kikuko**?  
>  3\. Is Kikuko really a name or is it a voice exercise?  
> 4\. Isn't it that thing Kotono did in middle school when she was an idol chuunibyou?  
> 5\. Aren't you ashamed of yourself for thinking that about a lovely name for a lovely lady?  
> 6\. Wait, are the Kotori and Nico stand-ins really trying to seduce the Maki stand-in to break up her (presumably happy and certainly functional) marriage?  
> 7\. While pretending to care about Principal Minami's (and Kotori's) school?  
> 8\. Taking advantage of Mama Nishikino's gullible, trusting and giving nature?  
> 9\. And this story is promoting that?  
> 10\. For a 'ship that's so minor, it's practically a rare-pair?  
> 11\. Are we all ready for the earth-shaking, life-changing events starting in the _**very next chapter?**_??  
>   
>  **NOTE:**  
>  **My hand's not up for _that_ one.**  
> ...  
>  12\. I forgot to ask: what the heck are _Kousaka Matsuda’s Random Gag Manga Time_ , _Robber King Ching_ , _Gun-Mecha Seed_ , and _Twisted Coils of Reason_ , anyway???  
> 13\. And ... and where did the names "Sanseki" and "Nagaiyoshi" come from, and what do they have to do with the Yazawas?
> 
> **Answers to last week's questions**
> 
> 1.マンガ「柚子森さん」への小さな参照です。  
> 2\. おそらく。 悪いあんじゅ！  
> 3.完全に。 それは彼女をとてもかわいくて魅力的にするものです。  
> 4.最悪の事。  
> 5.わからない。  
> 6.そうかもしれない。  
> 7.なし。  
> 8\. あなたは彼女が賭ける！  
> 8a。 非常に  
> 9.彼らの結婚式さえ。  
> 10.両方  
> 11.彼らの声優の時代。  
> 12.＃11を参照  
> 13.良い点。  
> 14.女子聖学院、マリア様が似ている中学校。  
> 15.彼らの声優の時代  
> 16.たぶん。


	6. Sambyaku Peiji Me

_“Nihyaku kyuujuu kyuupeiji me …Nihyaku kyuujuu hachipeiji me …Nihyaku kyuujuu nanapeiji me …Nihyaku kyuujuu rokupeiji me …Nihyaku kyuujuu gopeiji me …Nihyaku kyuujuu yompeiji me …Nihyaku kyuujuu sampeiji me …”_

Soramaru (nicknames only, it’s a rule) mentally envisioned the pages of the script, backward, for some reason but she was so tired. It didn’t help that it was too dim to refresh her memory with the script. It didn’t help, either, that the prompter kept bringing up irrelevant things from … last year? more? She was so tired. It felt like a voice actress boot camp - could she still remember her lines with her talking about Golden Bomber and TVXQ and did Soramaru think Heisei 25 was a good year for music so far? And - well this was nothing new - mostly calling her her character names. It was all so confusing, and she was so tired ... well, she sometimes got paid more for being the first to arrive and the last to leave ... the other girls were so nice about it …

_Nihyaku hachijuu yompeiji me …“Nihyaku hachijuu sampeiji me … Nihyaku hachijuu nipeiji me …Nihyaku hachijuu ich’peiji me”_

Now she was asking about movies, was Heisei 20 a good year for movies so far? She had said a different date before, she thought … but she was so tired …. so confused. “Go deeper in the role,” she heard. And then her character name … one of them … She had to remember more lines on …

_“Nihyaku nanajuu ich’peiji me, Nihyaku nanajuu peiji me, Nihyaku rokujuu kyuupeiji me …”_

Did Soramaru have any plans for Heisei 15? Well, she did, but things were too fuzzy. She was so tired she was going to fall asleep now. She didn’t normally need a shot to calm down, she did this for a living after all … and probably they had overdone it … The director or whatever she was said that was fine, but kept talking and talking and talking to her … She was so tired … what page had she been talking about? The radio got a little louder .. it was playing "Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana" by SMAP, and the announcer said it was going to be the smash hit of the year … “

_Nihyaku yonjuu kyuupeiji  … nihyaku … nihyaku …_

so tired she couldn’t move or even open her eyes, Soramaru finally succumbed … she dreamed she was still being talk, talk talked at … she was looking at her face … her face? a face .. in a mirror … she didn’t know which Yazawa she was … the Voice would tell her what she needed to know … she was wearing pigtails … so she was a her … she felt her eyes open slightly … weren’t they already open? wasn’t she standing? … she looked dimly around … the bunk bed she was lying on didn’t tell her anything … but she was dressed in her uniform .. her Joshigakuin middle school uniform … had she fallen asleep without changing? It would be all rumpled. She went to move, but it was so slow and she was so tired. She heard Perfume singing Sweet Donuts … she liked donuts … for some reason Yazawa … Who … was she so tired she couldn’t remember her own name? She giggled … when did she come in …

“ _Hyaku kyuujuu nanapeiji me”_

* * *

 

“I’m Cocoa!” It didn’t feel quite right, but she knew it was the right answer by rote. Funny dream that she couldn’t move. Still feeling like she was moving through water, Yazawa Cocoa blearily got out of bed, smoothed her uniform hopelessly, then, somehow gathering energy, headed down to breakfast. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Answers to Last Week's Questions**
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> 1.意外にも、両親。  
> 2.＃1と同じです。  
> 3.それは本当の名前です。  
> 4.カ、キ、ク、ケ、コトノ  
> 5\. あなたはすべきです！  
> 6\. 彼らはそうです。  
> 7.はい。  
> 8.はい  
> 9\. それはそうです。  
> 10.その声明を取り消す！ 医者とプリンシパルの関係は正義です！  
> 11.私は準備ができていません！  
> 12.松田良子のランダムギャグマンガタイム=ギャグマンガ日和  
> Robber King Ching =王ドロボウJING  
> ガンメカソース=機動戦士ガンダムSEED  
> 理性のねじれコイル=スパイラル〜推理の絆  
> 13.三石：くんのみ=みついし。 彼女の母親を演じる女子大生 - オセオ=サンセキ - ミツイシコトノ  
> 永吉：こんにちは=ながいよし。 おにょみ =エイキチ - 矢沢永吉ヤザワエイキチ有名歌手
> 
>  
> 
> **Questions**
> 
>  
> 
> No more questions.

**Author's Note:**

> NO SCHOOLS WERE HARMED WRITING THIS: Joshigakuin is based on Joshi Seigakuin middle (and high) school, Torimachi has the same meaning as the actual elementary school Kojimachi, and the real Toho Gakuen doesn't have the Touhou Project's Touhou. Eli and Anju will have instructors named Marisa and Alice to justify the name.
> 
> How old the Love Livers are in this series, and where they are:
> 
> ``  
> Anju 18 Touhou Gakuen  
> Eli 18 Touhou Gakuen  
> Honoka 17 Otonokizaka  
> Hideko 17 Otonokizaka  
> Kotori 16 Otonokizaka  
> Umi 16 Otonokizaka  
> Maki 14 Joshigakuin  
> Tsubasa 14 Joshigakuin  
> Nozomi 14 Joshigakuin  
> Hanayo 13 Joshigakuin  
> Nico 13 Joshigakuin  
> Rin 11 Torimachi  
> Yukiho 11 Torimachi  
> Erena 10 Torimachi  
> Alisa 9 Torimachi  
> If you're a die-hard Love Live! otaku, you'll probably understand where all of these ages come from.  
>   
> Others:  
> ``  
> Principal Minami 40 Otonokizaka  
> Mama Nishikino 38 Anemone Hospital  
> Mama Yazawa 35 Artist Vision Studios  
> Mika 14 Joshigakuin  
> Fumiko 14 Joshigakuin  
>   
>   
> As for Cocoro, Cocoa and Cotarou?
> 
> Don't you know about the famous Yazawa quintuplets? They're the reason their mother, who voiced the title character in the famous anime "Fleet Girl Luna" had to get a day job after her husband died. The oldest, by a minute, Nico, seems to take her role as "eldest" a little too seriously.


End file.
